With those Superbowl parties coming up, I'm here to make your life easier and give you an option to whip up a dip that will make people at your party happy and those with food allergies/preferences even happier!

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Fiesta Spinach Dip

by Samantha Riley January 30th 2019

Ingredients

1/2 Container of Spinach (about 3 oz)

1/2 cup Dairy Free Cream Cheese

1 can (about 10 oz) MILD Rotel Diced Tomatoes with green chilis

1/2 Package (about 6oz)Dairy Free Mexican or Cheddar Cheese*

1 TBLS Diced Jalapeno, minced (less if not a fan)

5 TBLS + 1 tspDairy Free Sour Cream

1/4 onion, finely chopped

1/8 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp chili powder

Instructions

In a medium to large serving bowl, mix together everything. Taste the dip and add more spices if need be. Place it in a 1 - 1.5qrt dish and cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until mixture is bubbly.Serve with your favorite tortilla chips

Notes
*Fresh Spinach is what you want to use - you can add more than 3oz if you'd like
*The recipe itself makes about a 1.5qt sized dip. If you need it for a large party, I suggest doubling the recipe.
*My husband said that it could be spicier. With that said, I suggest instead of using mild diced tomatoes, use hot. Or use some hot sauce in the recipe to your taste.
*The Dairy-Free Cream Cheese I used was Kite Hill, Sour Cream was Wayfair, and Cheese was the Mexcian blend from Daiya (as always, if you aren't dairy free/vegan you can sub out these for regular cheese products)
*I think I used more cumin and chili powder in my recipe so feel free to add more to yours as well.

Actually, you don't need a party to enjoy this dip. Make it for yourself and enjoy!

This recipe is vegan as long as you can get a hold of some good vegan feta.

Vio Life is what I use and it worked amazingly. My dad loves feta cheese and he was super into this dip. You can eat it as is or throw it over a nice bed of lettuce.

It's super easy to make an only requires a TAD bit of prep.

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Super Easy, Party Pleasing, Avocado Dip

by Samantha Riley January 23rd 2019

Ingredients

2-3 Avocados, diced

1 Pint Cherry or Grape Tomatos, qaurtered

6-8oz Vegan Feta*

1 TBLSdried parsley

1 TBLS Olive Oil

1.5 TBLSRed Wine Vinigar

1/2 tspGarlic Powder

1 tsp onion powder

Instructions

In a medium to large serving bowl, mix together everything EXCEPT the avocado.Let the the mixture marinate in the fridge for at least an hour and half. After that or when your read to serve, add in your avacado. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: N/A Total time: 10mins Yield: 8Servings

*I assume you could make your own vegan feta with tofu but I'm not sure how it would taste, so your best bet is to try to find some already made vegan feta. Obviously if you are not vegan you can just put regular feta in this dish.

I love a good hearty chili on those cool crisp southern winter days. Especially on a Sunday with football on in the background and a warm dish cooking up in the crockpot *instantly feels all warm and cozy* I've made this recipe a couple times over this Florida fall/winter season. Each time finding what works and does not work. So know this recipe is best if you follow the directions below exactly.

It's become a favorite of the husbands as it's a nice break from my bean chili. Which is also very good but in his words, "it needs meat" 🙄
Just a few simple ingredients blend well together in this protein filled set and forget a meal!

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Gluten and Dairy Free Crock Pot White Chicken Chili

by Samantha Riley January 17th 2019

Ingredients

1.5-2lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs*

3 cans Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained*

2 8oz cans Mild Diced Green Chilies

1Yellow Onion, diced

2 tsp Cumin

1 tspChili Powder

1/4 teaspoonWhite (or regular black) Pepper

1/2 TablespoonSalt

2 cupChicken Broth

1 CupAlmond Milk (or any other dairy free milk)

1/4 cupcornstarch

1/2 cupwater

Instructions

In a large crockpot, put in all your ingredients EXCEPT the corn starch and water.Cook on high for 5-6 hours till the chicken thighs are cooked through and soft After the 5-6 hours, remove the chicken with a slotted spoon/ladle and place on a cutting board to shredBEFORE putting the chicken back into the crockpot, determine if you would like the soup to be thicker.If you would like it to be thicker, mix the cornstarch and water together and add it to the crockpot. Then place the chicken back into the crockpot and let it cook for another 20-30 minutes.After that time, you can use an immersion blender to blend the soup a tad, don't blend too much or you will lose your beans. Serve with your favorite chili toppings such as tortilla chips or dairy free sour cream!

*Chicken Thighs really work the best. I've used Chicken Breast but they tend to be on the dry side and don't compliment the soup well.
*Northern Beans do work the best, but if you can't find them White Kidney beans will work as well,

I absolutely love getting emails from the lovely people over at FTD every December. They are so kind as to reach out and send me a preview of their new printable calendar for the new year.

The beginning of the year is a time to reflect on your past year and set your priorities for the upcoming one.
Whether you’d like to focus on eating healthier by trying some vegan recipes or you’d like to get ahead in your career, having designated checkpoints will help your goals become a reality. To help you plan for your 2019 goals, FTD has free floral printable calendars. Simply download the full page printouts (8.5″ x 11″) to hang on your wall or a desktop version (11″ x 17″) that can be folded into an upright calendar and placed in your workspace!

I am here. I am alive. And I am ready to dive back into this wonderful internet world.

If you're new, Hello! My name is Samantha!

If your a loyal reader, welcome back!

Where have I been these last 3 months?

Well...

I'm a graduate!

I threw myself head first into my final college semester over the last 3 months and unfortunately had to put blogging/social media life on the back burner.

But I'm back!

For those that are new here (and even those that have been here before) I want to take this opportunity to introduce (or reintroduce) myself!

First, My name is Samantha. I'm a twenty-something southern introvert. I live the lovely Sunshine state with my husband and our handsome Rhodesian/Shepard Bruno. We are the happiest snuggled up at home with our pup or traveling the Irish countryside.

I've been blogging for many years now. At first, it was a place for me to share my young ideas and thoughts. However, as I got older and health issues ensued, my blogging became a place to document my new findings as I live a healthier/greener lifestyle.

My passion/career is social media. While its overwhelming for many, I've found I thrive in it. I focused my entire college career in it. Social Media is an ever growing and evolving field and I love that I'm constantly learning new things. I think a good social media manager is always open to learning new things that can future help themselves and their clients.

So this blog seems mostly about food... what's with that?
Long story short, I've been gluten-free for about 5 years and dairy free for about 2 and 1/2 years.
As many with food allergies/sensitivities know, sometimes finding recipes that fit your food allergies can be hard and difficult. I love to create and share recipes that are easy, tasty, and gluten-free. Food makes everyone happy, so why not share recipes that might make someone's life easier and filled with less gluten 😉

That pretty sums it up! While I love social media and food, I love a lot of other things as well.
(In no particular order) Coffee, Bravo TV, reading, TJ Maxx, monograms, sweet tea, and Star Wars.

That's the end of my ramble. Thank you to everyone who has stuck around waiting for my return and if you're new, thank you for tunning in and hopefully staying tuned in this new years!